Santa Got Run Over by a...................Cold!!!!!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Yesterday, I picked my mom up from the airport and she is back to spend the holidays with us.  Last week, I came down with some kind of head cold and I am still battling this bug this week.  My daughter and son-in-law arrive on Friday and I do not have time to be sick.  I have been talking to a couple of my female friends and it seems I am not alone when I say I think Santa is really a tired, overworked at the Holidays, superwoman.  I may be oversimplifying, but I think it is the women of the world who, for the most part, make the Holidays happen at their house.  My one friend makes the most wonderful nuts and makes batch after batch for days to give away to family, friends, and co-workers, for Christmas. On top of that, she works long hours at her job and she told me yesterday that her husband said to her that she needs to relax more at the Holidays and all she said back was, “Are you for real?”  Personally, I thought he was pretty daring to tell an exhausted woman cooking nuts to take it easy. 

 

I would love to curl up in bed with my box of Kleenex the entire week before my company arrives, and count how many times I can blow my nose in one hour, but I don’t have time and there are no Merry Maids at our house beating the door down to help.  In fact, there just seems to be one not so Merry Maid, coughing and hacking and contemplating packing her nose with Tampons to avoid having to blow it one more time as she goes about getting everything done. The problem with that idea is in my harried, sick state I could wind up at the grocery store, completely forgetting how I solved the problem of a dripping nose and have the check-out lady say to me, “ma’am, you might want to read the directions on the box next time because I don’t think you are using those correctly.” I really don’t know how I would explain the situation other than to say I probably saw it on an old episode of MacGyver.

 

So, while waiting for my mom’s plane to arrive, I took the dogs to their grooming appointment and came home to vacuum one last time and throw in another load of laundry and was thinking everything was running pretty smoothly when the first hiccup happened. I made the mistake of answering the phone and there my mom was letting me know her plane was delayed due to fog. My mom is a firm believer in the old adage, “if mama isn’t happy, she is going to share it with you,” and her cheery voice told me this was one of those times.  While we were talking, I could hear an announcement overhead and I asked her what was being said and she answered back, “I have no idea what they are talking about, “ only to have some nice passenger tell her they said they were boarding. 

 

She hung up rather quickly and probably didn’t hear me tell her I appreciated having to run up from the basement to answer the phone only to hear from her that her plane had been delayed by a matter of minutes and as soon as she landed, I would try and have Diane Sawyer there for the interview. That wasn’t the end of her calls and I got another one after she landed in PA that there was no wheelchair waiting for her and she had no idea what to do. I could see me now trying to get through the security check point and trying to explain to the officer that I don’t have time to empty my pockets of all my cold medicine paraphernalia because there is an impatient woman with a cell phone and my number waiting at the terminal gate for a wheelchair. I really was expecting at any moment to hear an 85 year old woman on the overhead speaker yelling, “ Laurie, where is my damn wheelchair?”  Instead, by the time I gathered my thoughts, she told me the wheelchair had arrived and she was on her way. Another crisis averted, and when she got in the car the first thing she said was, “I told myself to come out with a smile on my face, “ and all I said was, “when did you decide to go with plan B?”

 

What does all this mean?  I think my point is that Santa doesn’t get sick days. There is never a good time to get sick, but Holidays are the worst. People still need picked up from the airport, company still comes, dinners need to be cooked, gifts purchased and wrapped, Holiday programs and pageants attended, and unfortunately, there are no do overs.  Being sick, I have let a couple of things slide and was very thankful on Sunday when my husband took the dogs for their daily walk and let me sleep. I tried to get up and go with him, but he took one look at me and said, “will your hair be sticking up like that on our walk?” and when I shook my head “yes” he opted to go solo.  Tomorrow morning, I get to see my daughter for the second time in one year and I don’t care if my nose is still dripping and my eyes are still weeping and she yells out, "Rudolph!" when she first lays eyes on me,  there is going to be a big smile plastered all over my face all day.  Yep, I am feeling better already and it is nice to have my family home. I wish for each one of you a happy and healthy Holiday and to be surrounded by those you hold dear, either two legged or four, and to Jennifer, who makes my cold seem like small potatoes, to get home to her Jack for Christmas.

P.S. Well, it is twelve hours later here and my mom woke up with the flu! My daughter missed her connecting flight by 10 minutes because her plane was delayed, as did 9 other passengers, and had to wait until morning to get out of Portland. She won't be here until dinner time. I hope they don't turn around and go home when they get here and see some of the occupants of this house :) Meanwhile, my husband just gave me an early Christmas present when he came home from work early to take care of my mom, me, and two dogs that are wondering why no one wants to play with them. No wonder Santa has so many helpers. Every now and then, he needs a little help!!

 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

After I was up at 2 in the morning reading and responding to your blog I went back to bed with my Nook and pulled up my Readers Digest to read and try and go to sleep.  On the first page I went to the question was posed as to what would you like to see changed at Christmas .... one of the responses was "I would like for Mom to not think that things have to be so perfect" ... I thought of you.  Just relax and just enjoy those around you.

[Elizabeth, Bailey & Bruin]

Hope you feel better soon...

 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Thank you, Sharon. I will tell Vern :)

Anna, I bet you are a great teacher, cough and all :) Enjoy your company and get some rest!!

[Sherri, Sophie, Winston, & Kitty]

Wonderful blog Laurie! one of your funniest! I really do hope you are feeling better. It sounds like you are a superwoman at most times, I don't even know what to call it when it comes the holidays. Glad you have some help though. Christmas always seems to just come together, no matter what. Enjoy your family and hour holiday! xoxo

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

I now have the most helpful DH at Christmas!  He starts asking in October if we should start shopping.  How did I do this you say.  Well, most of our married years we have lived away from family.  Some overseas.  Some times we made it home and others we didn't.  What this means is that Presents must be bought, wrapped and shipped in order to arrive in time for Christmas.  When we lived in FL, the first year I went to the post office with all the boxes ready to be mailed the line was out the door.  It took me hours to get them sent, and this was several weeks before Christmas.  So, the next year as I was in the guest bedroom having just wrapped the last present and getting everything boxed up and labeled DH walked in and asked if I needed any help.  My response was "Well, I have figured out what to get everyone, gone shopping for those presents, brought them home, wrapped them and now have them packaged, labeled and ready to ship.  So, yes there is something that you can do, you can take them to the post office and mail them".  He was like NO, PLEASE DON'T MAKE ME GO TO THE POST OFFICE" ...

Great blog as usual Laurie!  I hope that things turn around and you have a wonderful holiday!  We are both on the downside of the nasty cold as well.  All I can say is Sudafed ... It did wonders for me!  Merry Christmas.  Enjoy your visit with your daughter!

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Laurie, in the face of all this you still have the time to bring Christmas Cheer - amazing. Actually you and I know that you are right, Women make it happen, even if it means kicking the butts of some men to get at lease one or two of the 23 things that need to be done done. I was quite the crab this morning when DH was looking through recipes to HELP me DECIDE what the accompaniments were going to be with the tenderloin. All this sitting on the couch with binders, books and boxes in my just cleaned Christmas decorated living room - un showered, un shaved and un helpful. He saved his own life when he decided to take Daisy for a nice long walk at Sunny Lake.

Hope you and your Mom are feeling better tomorrow and no one else catches the bug.

Merry Christmas friend and enjoy your daughter, you must be beyond excited to see her...oh and the others too!

[Julie, Boomer, Milo & Casey]

Oh my!  Too funny.  The "plan B" part cracked me up!    You are so funny and I love reading your blogs.    Merry Christmas. 

[Anna and Achilles]

Fa la la la la! Wow! i hope you feel better soon. I know the feeling. I have had a whirlwind of a week myself with a cold. first in my kindergarten class The gingerbread man ran away and we had to find clues all over the school. 18 very excited children hunting and one teacher coughing and sneezing. The it was off on the Polar express! Still one teacher sneezing and 18 very excited children. Then it was the realization that Santa was coming in a couple of days. I think I lost the battle of control. Who can coppete with Santa with 5 year olds. Oh I have two house guests, and my son and girlfriend coming from MI for a week. I need a vacation from my vacation!

[Sharon & Monty]

teach Vern to simply lay against her feet.  My DH MISERABLE father hated dogs, actually hated much of anything.  However when he went to the home, he sure was glad to see Monty.  Last thing that FIL did was pet Monty, and he hates dogs.  Dogs are there cause they want to be.  Show Vern how to lay next to her without laying on her.  Just my opinion today.  

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

LOL, Sharon. Well, Vern is 90 pounds and she said it was starting to hurt, so he had to get down :( Poor Vern, just doesn't realize his size!